I may have all the six ingredients (effort, initiative, courage, intelligence,
resourcefulness and perseverance) for success but still there may be something
that makes the difference between success and failure. By my prayer, I invoke
daivam, the seventh factor, to take care of the unknown element.

Any form of prayer is as efficacious as any other. This fact must be understood
well, not as tolerance for or accommodation of forms of worship other than one’s
own, but in terms of understanding that the universal order alone is being implied.
There is no pagan’s prayer; there is only prayer.

On Desires:

Removal of desires is neither possible nor necessary. That I desire is not a
problem. The desire becomes a problem when I come under its spell.

One who can manage one’s wants is successful. One who lets one’s wants manage
oneself is struggling to be successful.

On Initative:

Life is nothing but a series of decisions. You have to make decisions in life all the
time. And those decisions have to come from a clear mind, not from a confused
mind. Therefore, you have to be prayerful so that clear decisions will come to you.